This invention relates generally to automatic pinsetters of the type which retrieve bowling pins from a pit area adjacent a rear end portion of a bowling alley and which deposit the same in bowling array on the rear end portion of the bowling alley.
Automatic pinsetters heretofore available have employed mechanical means for retrieving, manipulating and orienting bowling pins as required to reposition or "set" the same in a desired bowling array on a rear end portion of a bowling alley. The pinsetters also mechanically retrieve and raise remaining upright pins after a first ball has been thrown, the alley thus being cleared of fallen pins or "deadwood", and thereafter replace the upright pins on the bowling alley.
While pinsetters of the type mentioned have been satisfactory in general, they are usually highly complex mechanical devices, necessarily expensive with regard both to manufacture and initial cost as well as repair and maintenance throughout their useful life. For example, it is known that repair and maintenance costs associated with available automatic pinsetters usually constitute the most expensive single item in the operation of a bowling alley.
It is a general object of the present invention to provide an automatic pinsetter of greatly simplified design and construction which is capable of manufacture at economic advantage and which exhibits a high degree of durability over a long service life, repair and maintenance costs thus being minimized.
Another object of the present invention is to reduce the number of moving parts in a simplified and yet highly efficient pinsetter to a few hundred, prior art pinsetters having employed moving parts in the thousands.
Another object of the present invention is to eliminate the purely mechanical and rather awkward manipulation and orientation of bowling pins and to substitute at least in part the use of magnetism.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic pinsetter and a plurality of magnetically responsive bowling pins for use therewith, the pinsetter serving to retrieve bowling pins from a pit area adjacent a rear end of a bowling alley and manipulating and orienting the same magnetically for deposit in a desired bowling array on a rear end portion of the alley.
A still further object of the present invention resides in the provision of an automatic pinsetter for retrieving magnetically responsive bowling pins from a pit area adjacent a rear end of a bowling alley for transporting and arranging the same in an upright attitude and in a desired bowling array above a pre-selected area of the bowling alley, and for precisely depositing the same on the area in bowling array.
A still further object of the invention resides in the provision of a pinsetter for both retrieving magnetically responsive bowling pins from a pit area employing magnetic means and for handling and depositing the bowling pins on the bowling alley in bowling array employing magnetic means.
A further object of the present invention resides in the provision of an automatic pinsetter having magnetic means for picking up and raising remaining upright bowling pins after a first ball has been thrown, thus accommodating clearing of the bowling alley of fallen bowling pins, and for replacing the bowling pins on the bowling alley.
A still further object of the present invention resides in the provision of an automatic pinsetter having magnetic means for efficiently picking-up remaining upright "off spot" bowling pins, raising the same and thus accommodating clearing of fallen pins from the bowling alley and for replacing the bowling pins on the alley precisely in their "off spot" positions.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide magnetically responsive bowling pins highly efficient in their co-operation with magnetic means in a automatic pinsetter and which yet act and react precisely in the same manner as conventional bowling pins.
A still further object of the present invention resides in the provision of bowling ball retrieval apparatus of a simplified and yet highly efficient and reliable construction.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a simplified design and construction as aforesaid and which is extremely compact in configuration particularly in the longitudinal direction of the bowling alley.